My Experience with VMware Workstation
February 21, 2017
My Experience with VMware Workstation
Score 10 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User
Overall Satisfaction with VMware Workstation
The use of VMware Workstation is restricted as we own a limited number of licenses. However, since I work on the team that supports our virtualization initiatives, I am one of those people.
VMware Workstation allows me to test software, configuration changes, etc., all on virtual machines on my PC rather than affecting our production VMware environments. I'm able to isolate VMs off the network if necessary, allow VMs access to the network via NAT (Network Address Translation), and also using bridged networking, giving the VMs direct access to our network.
VMware Workstation allows me to test software, configuration changes, etc., all on virtual machines on my PC rather than affecting our production VMware environments. I'm able to isolate VMs off the network if necessary, allow VMs access to the network via NAT (Network Address Translation), and also using bridged networking, giving the VMs direct access to our network.
- It uses the resources of my laptop to create virtual machines that I'm able to use on my PC.
- It allows me to isolate VMs off the network if necessary.
- I'm able to take copies of VMs off of our production environment and load them in VMware Workstation to test configuration changes, software upgrades, etc.
- If your PC doesn't have a lot of resources, it can drain your PC and cause a lot of slowness.
- Upgrading to new versions usually requires multiple reboots, which can be annoying.
- VMware Workstation allows me to perform tasks without having to buy a physical machine to use.
- It also saves me from having to deploy test machines in our production virtualization environment.
- VIrutalBox and Vagrant
I personally haven't used any of these other tools, but one thing they have over Workstation is price. They're free and Workstation is not. However, If you're used to working in a VMware environment, then using VMware Workstation will come as second nature to you. Also, being able to use the VMware Converter and export VMs from your vSphere environment to use in Workstation is VERY HANDY!